title: Benign nocturnal alternating hemiplegia of childhood: a new case with unusual findings.
abstract: It has been described a neuro developmental disorder labelled "Benign nocturnal alternating hemiplegia of childhood" (BNAHC) characterized by recurrent attacks of nocturnal hemiplegia without progression to neurological or intellectual impairment. We report a female patient who at 11months revealed a motionless left arm, unusual crying without impairment of consciousness and obvious precipitating factors. The attacks occur during sleep in the early morning with lack of ictal and interictal electroencephalographic abnormalities, progressive neurological deficit, and cognitive impairment. Unlike previous reports of BNAHC our patient come from a family with a history of both migraine, hemiplegic migraine, and sleep disorders. Our study remarks on the typical features described in previous studies and stresses the uncommon aspects that could help to identify the disorder which is likely to have been underestimated. Despite some clinical similarities between BNAHC and familiar hemiplegic migraine and alternating hemiplegia of childhood, the genetic analyses of our patient did not reveal genetic mutations found in both disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care "G. D'Alessandro", Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: manganos@katamail.com.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mangano
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care "G. D'Alessandro", Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care "G. D'Alessandro", Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spitaleri
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppa Renata
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Mangano
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Alternating hemiplegia of childhood; Benign nocturnal alternating hemiplegia of childhood; Hemiplegic migraine; Sleep disorders